86 



WHALES 



Figure 44. Scars Jound on the skins of Rorquals 



lacerations (Fig. 44) are well known to all whalers. They are generally 

 2 to 6 inches long, and are found mainly on the posterior part of the body. 

 Against black skin, they appear to consist of a dark centre, from which 

 fairly fine white stripes fan out in all directions, but against white skin, 

 on which, by the way, they are far less frequent, they form a completely 

 black pattern. Although these scars are found predominantly on the 

 species listed above, they occasionally occur on the skin of the Grey 

 Whale, the Humpback Whale, and the Sperm Whale also. The scars are 

 found on whales in both hemispheres, and the reason why they are rarer 

 in Humpback Whales and Sperm Whales must probably be sought in 

 the fact that their skin and, even more, their blubber, is so much harder 

 and tougher than that of their larger relatives. 



Nor are the scars restricted to these species. Mr W. L. van Utrecht, who 

 made a thorough investigation of them, reports that similar scars are 

 found in three species of Beaked Whales belonging to the genera Meso- 

 plndon and Berardius; in Bottlenose Whales, in White-sided Dolphins, in 

 Finless Black Porpoises, and also in the Common Porpoise. In the latter, 

 though the species has been known for centuries, they were first described 

 by van Utrecht in a specimen caught on 31st January, 1955 (see Fig. 45). 

 Subsequently, it transpired that such scars on Common Porpoises are 

 quite frequent. 



How did these marks come about ? The answer is rather difficult, for the 

 simple reason that no dolphin or whale has ever been caught with any 



